DALTON, Ga. - As far as knockout punches are concerned, the one delivered by the Holy Innocents' Episcopal School boys' basketball team in the first half-quarter of Wednesday night's GHSA Class A private school state quarterfinal was akin to a Mike Tyson uppercut.
The eighth-seeded Bears hit five of their first six shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, while sprinting out to a 13-0 lead at top-ranked Christian Heritage on their way to a resounding 69-54 win.
Holy Innocents' (18-9) extended its lead to 27-5 after one quarter, hitting three more 3-pointers along the way while also forcing nine turnovers by Christian Heritage (27-3). The length and athleticism of the visitors from Atlanta was too much for the Lions early in the game.
Christian Heritage's AJ Kent (23) dribbles the ball downcourt Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018 during the Mt. Vernon vs. Christian Heritage boys' basketball game in the second round of the state tournament in Dalton, Ga."They are really athletic and talented," Christian Heritage coach Tyler Watkins said. "They tipped every ball we tried to pass and they hit a bunch of shots early, including I think five 3-pointers, while we were trying to protect the rim. They just overwhelmed us."
The main culprit was sophomore guard Josh Smith, who scored a game-high 33 points and had all six of his steals during a first half in which the Bears completely dominated on both ends. Smith had 17 first-half points, including several strong drives. Alex Hyatt, Mykel Tubbs and Smith also harassed Christian Heritage star Christian Koneman with double and sometimes triple teams whenever he touched the ball.
"We didn't want 34 to get going," Holy Innocents' coach Adrian Collins said. "I thought we did a great job on him early, and overall we were very disruptive."
The Lions' deficit was 41-14 by halftime, and even though he knew the hill was likely too steep to climb, Watkins implored his team to keep battling. The players listened, scoring the third quarter's first six points and finally cutting the lead to fewer than 20 points on back-to-back 3s by A.J. Kent and Koneman.
The lead was still 22 when Koneman tried to take over, scoring on consecutive hard drives - the second resulting in a three-point play - then adding a pair of free throws as the margin was cut to 15 with 5:25 to play. Zach Gentry later converted two strong drives to make it an 11-point game as the visitors began piling up missed free throws.
The Lions even had two possessions down 11, but each came up empty and Smith restored order by making enough free throws to end the furious comeback attempt.
"We didn't play our best, but the guys just kept fighting," Watkins said. "For four years they have given me everything, and you saw that tonight in the second half. This program went from one of the worst teams in the state four years ago to region champions and the No. 1 team in the state this year.
"I'm proud of them. I told the guys it's hard and there are a lot of guys who are sad because their careers are over, but as I tell them, don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. We've got a lot of things to smile about. As much as I want to cry, I choose to smile about it."
Tubbs had 13 points as the only other Bear who scored in double figures, while Koneman ended his high school career with a 20-point, 17-rebound, four-block performance and Gentry added 12 points.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow on Twitter @youngsports22.